Blu-Ray Review: Jaw-Dropping HD Transfer of Timeless ‘The Red Shoes’

CHICAGO – Can an old movie look too good on Blu-ray? This has been the subject of much debate, most notably in the over-removal of natural film grain by some production studios and the purists who think sometimes HD damages the original look of the film by coating it with too much polish. Watching the six-decades-old “The Red Shoes” from the incredibly influential Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, I was reminded once again of this controversy by a video transfer that’s simply jaw-dropping in its crystal clear quality.

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

Part of the reason “The Red Shoes” makes such a striking statement on Blu-ray is that the film’s bright, vibrant Technicolor has always been an essential ingredient in the dramatic proceedings. The film was released in an era where color filmmaking was still new enough that seeing these bright reds, yellows, and blues was as revolutionary as “Avatar” is today. And the overabundance of lavish color is part of the story in that the theatricality of the piece enhances the experience of the quintessential backstage drama.

The Red Shoes was released on Blu-ray on July 20th, 2010
Photo credit: The Criterion Collection

The HD brings attention to the costumes in a way that just the existence of color would have done for audiences in 1948. And the remastered picture has been taken from an award-winning, seven-year restoration overseeen by the great editor Thelma Schoonmaker and director Martin Scorsese, who famously named “The Red Shoes” one of the two most beautiful color films ever made (along with Renoir’s “The River.”)

The Red Shoes was released on Blu-ray on July 20th, 2010 Photo credit: The Criterion Collection

In “The Red Shoes,” Moira Shearer stars as a rising star of the ballet who is set to appear in a stage version of Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Red Shoes,” based on the fairy tale. The story-within-a-story parallels the classic fairy tale in its tale of a young lady caught by her own dancing success and the men that it brings into her life. The foundation of a performer torn between love for the stage and the personal life that often destroys would be told over and over again but arguably never more influentially than in “The Red Shoes.”

The film won Oscars for Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration along with nominations for Best Picture, Best Writing, and Best Film Editing. It lost Best Picture to Laurence Olivier’s “Hamlet.”

The special features are notable and very interesting but the Blu-ray of “The Red Shoes” is an essential addition to a film historian’s library for its transfer, one that cannot be put into words. Criterion and Scorsese have pulled off the amazing feat of recreating the feeling audiences must have had when they first marvelled at the scope and vibrancy of Powell and Pressburger’s vision. Shouldn’t the goal of a video transfer be to enhance the filmmaking as much as possible? Yes, some films can look TOO good in HD, but not “The Red Shoes.”

The impressive bonus material includes:
o Introductory restoration demonstration with filmmaker Martin Scorsese
o Audio commentary by film historian Ian Christie, featuring interviews with stars Marius Goring and Moira Shearer, cinematographer Jack Cardiff, composer Brian Easdale, and Scorsese
o Audio recording of actor Jeremy Irons reading excerpts from Powell and Pressburger’s novelization of The Red Shoes
o “Profile of “The Red Shoes”,” a documentary on the making of the film, featuring interviews with members of the production team
o Video interview with director Michael Powell’s widow, editor Thelma Schoonmaker Powell, from the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, in which she discusses Powell, the film, and the restoration
o Collection of rare publicity stills and behind-the-scenes photos
o Gallery of items from Scorsese’s personal collection of “The Red Shoes” memorabilia
o “”The Red Shoes” Sketches,” an animated film of Hein Heckroth’s painted storyboards, with the Red Shoes ballet as an alternate angle
o Audio recording of Irons reading the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Red Shoes”
o Theatrical Trailer
o A booklet featuring an essay by critic David Ehrenstein and a description of the restoration by UCLA film archivist Robert Gitt

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com [email protected]